The Privilege of Being in a Relationship

Xia Mi had him put on an act and purchase a crate of Frigg Bullets and two rifles. They spent the afternoon squatting in the office, loading magazines. It was all in preparation for Day of Freedom.

Li Lin, who had already returned to the dorm to rest, browsed the Night Watchers Forum on his laptop.

Unexpectedly, Fingel had not spread the results of this Word Spirit test around everywhere.

At Xia Mi's prompting, Li Lin also realized that his ability to manipulate elements could easily lead the Executive Department to misjudge him. So after playing Left 4 Dead for a while, he went downstairs to Room 303 and found Fingel picking at his feet on his bed.

Fingel's place in Li Lin's mind was like that of the Earth God in Journey to the West. Every middle school and even every university always had someone who had spent years learning all the unspoken rules and figuring out the ways of the world—a seasoned old hand who had outlasted batch after batch of fresh dough, until both the cook and the customers could only pinch their noses and let him float in the hot oil while picking up information.

The dorm reeked of a complicated blend of kimchi, chili peppers, and instant noodle seasoning. Fingel had just finished picking at his foot and was about to smell his fingers when he spotted Li Lin suddenly pushing open the door. His raised hand immediately had nowhere to go.

Fortunately, Fingel's skin was as thick as a city wall. He wiped his hand on his T-shirt, then asked Li Lin what he wanted.

"Senior, how did I do in this test? I heard before that someone in the Executive Department suspected I might turn into a Dead Servant at any time."

Hearing that, Fingel gave Li Lin a thumbs-up.

"Just basic S-Rank bloodline stuff. Don't worry. Sure, your skill at kneading concrete like putty is a little shocking, but none of the S-Ranks in school history were ordinary people. Among those peerless old freaks, you're only a rookie little freak."

"Could you give me an example?"

"At Jotaro Kujo's peak, when he was seventeen, he could stop time for only five seconds. The principal is nearly one hundred and forty years old, and he claims he can stop time for five minutes."

"As expected of a peerless old freak."

Li Lin said it from the bottom of his heart.

What Fingel did not tell Li Lin was that while prodigies had indeed been everywhere throughout the school's history and even the history of the Secret Party, none of them had been able to wield their Word Spirits as effortlessly as Li Lin did at sixteen or immediately after awakening one.

Sometimes there was no point in making things too clear. Fingel did not think Li Lin could possibly be a dragon. There was no thirst for power or strength in this preparatory student's eyes. He was simply focused on enjoying the process of improving himself, his formidable humanity kicking the savagery and desires in Dragon Race genes aside.

Fingel did not want to burden the heart of this boy who was bound to become a dragon-slaying expert, so he cheerfully changed the subject.

"Lately, everyone in school has been talking about Day of Freedom. Our Martial Arts Club vice president has probably heard about it already."

"Yeah. Boss Caesar has even put out a bounty. If any Student Union member wins Day of Freedom, he's willing to pay for the usage rights to Norton Hall."

"There really are a lot of impressive freshmen this year. And in an all-out brawl like that, even the boss can't guarantee he'll last until the end." Fingel scratched his greasy hair. "But haven't you heard anyone mention the most important winner's reward of Day of Freedom?"

"Hm?"

Li Lin froze for a moment. He had heard some rather outrageous rumors, but he had assumed they were made up.

Seeing that, Fingel began speaking at length.

"The student who wins Day of Freedom can pursue the first girl he likes at the academy in the future, and she cannot refuse. They must maintain a relationship for at least three months."

"Of course, that only establishes a relationship in name. If disputes or conflicts arise, or if the girl is unwilling and they become a couple only on the surface, nobody will say anything... But under normal circumstances, no one would reject an outstanding Mixed-Blood whose combat ability could sweep the entire school."

"And most importantly, after Day of Freedom comes the beauty pageant organized by the vice principal. So the winner can directly take home the most popular girl in school."

"..."

Listening to Fingel's spit-flying introduction, Li Lin was somewhat intrigued. He was at an age full of youth, after all. Under the influence of hormones, it was only natural for him to feel curious about and yearn for topics like romance.

But did he urgently want to start a relationship... It did not seem like he was that repressed.

In fact, whenever Li Lin occasionally dreamed of a certain girl, it was always Xia Mi charging straight at him with her fists raised. Even in his dreams, he had to review why he had failed to block or evade some of Xia Mi's simple, crude probing moves.

There was no helping it. It was too humiliating.

Never mind what kind of Mixed-Blood Xia Mi was or what kind of martial arts genius she might be. At the very least, when she stood across from him, she looked like nothing more than a thin, slender little girl.

Fighting a peer his own age whose physique was far inferior to his to a standstill, while the Dragon-Slaying Binding System kept popping up prompt windows with loud chimes—Li Lin simply could not get over it.

On one hand, he quite enjoyed the thrill of automatic leveling. On the other, every punch and kick from that little girl hurt so badly that he could barely breathe, making him feel utterly embarrassed...

His train of thought abruptly stopped there. Li Lin suddenly recalled Xia Mi's increasingly strong possessiveness lately, along with the obvious panic and irritation she had shown on various occasions.

If I win Day of Freedom and hold that winner's privilege in my hand, could I use it to rein Xia Mi in a little and stop her from dragging me out to fight at every turn?

Especially now that Li Lin had awakened his bloodline, he felt he could definitely beat Xia Mi. It was just that when fighting her, it was hard to guarantee he would not lose his composure. One punch from that little girl could make any level of expression management collapse instantly from pain.

As for taking the opportunity to ask Xia Mi to date him... The two had grown up together and had long understood each other's thoughts perfectly. If Li Lin really did that, Xia Mi would probably just burst into laughter, then openly hold his hand every day as they went to school.

That would be far too boring. He might as well try saying, "I met a senior girl I like," after winning Day of Freedom, then observe Xia Mi's reaction.

"Junior, you look like you've already started fantasizing about dating beautiful girls."

"I don't have such lowbrow interests. Senior, do you know if the school has any training facilities specifically for Mixed-Bloods? I need to adapt to the physical improvements brought by awakening my bloodline as soon as possible."

Hearing that, Fingel hurriedly jumped off the bed.

"There are plenty of those. The Equipment Department drops all sorts of mysterious exercise equipment around campus every week, but basically no one uses them, so they're all practically factory-new. The problem now is that even if you manage to last until the end, it seems you still can't beat Xia Mi. I watched your combat videos. Most of the time, Xia Mi calmly chases you around and beats you senseless... I'm just saying, can you really win?"

"Don't worry, Senior. I'll definitely win."